A new Gray TV poll in North Dakota finds Kevin Cramer (R) leads Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D) by 16 percentage points, 56% to 40%, increasing his lead since a September poll which gave Cramer a 10-point advantage.

Key finding: “Heitkamp’s support appears relatively fixed. Only 5% of those supporting her say that they might change their mind, compared to 17% of Cramer supporters who say they may still change theirs.”

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) apologized for misidentifying victims of domestic violence, sexual abuse and rape who were listed in a recent North Dakota newspaper ad aimed at her opponent, the AP reports.

She said that she had recently learned that several of the women named in the ad “either hadn’t authorized it or are not survivors of abuse.”

Said Heitkamp: “I deeply regret this mistake and we are in the process of issuing a retraction, personally apologizing to each of the people impacted by this and taking the necessary steps to ensure this never happens again.”

“Republicans say they’re on the cusp of delivering a knockout blow to North Dakota Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp — and virtually ending Democrats’ hopes of winning the Senate,” Politico reports.

“Heitkamp is down in public polls by a significant margin, and most political handicappers think Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) is the favorite to beat her. If she goes down, Democrats would basically have to run the table in every other battleground race to take the chamber.”

North Dakota U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Cramer (R) dismissed the #MeToo movement, saying it’s “a movement towards victimization,” the New York Times reports.

Said Cramer: “That you’re just supposed to believe somebody because they said it happened.”

Invoking his wife, daughters, mother and mother-in-law, he added: “They cannot understand this movement toward victimization. They are pioneers of the prairie. These are tough people whose grandparents were tough and great-grandparents were tough.”

North Dakota U.S. Senate candidate Kevin Cramer (R) said that the accusation against Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh was “even more absurd” than Anita Hill’s accusation against Clarence Thomas because Kavanaugh and his accuser were drunk teenagers when the alleged incident occurred, CNN reports.

Said Cramer: “These are teenagers who evidently were drunk, according to her own statement. They were drunk. Nothing evidently happened in it all, even by her own accusation. Again, it was supposedly an attempt or something that never went anywhere.”

Christine Blasey Ford alleged that Kavanaugh was “stumbling drunk,” but only said she had one beer at the party.

The Koch political network announced that it does not currently plan to support Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) in his effort to unseat Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), “one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for reelection this November,” the Washington Post reports.

“Heitkamp’s race is a top pickup opportunity for Republicans, who are trying to retain their slim two-seat majority in the Senate. Heitkamp, the only Democrat who holds statewide office in North Dakota, is running for reelection in a state that President Trump won by more than 35 points.”

“Koch network also has no current plans to back Senate candidates in Nevada and Indiana.”

Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND), who is running for the Senate in North Dakota, said that he advised President Trump not to be pressured into making his Supreme Court nomination “some sort of affirmative action pick,” CNN reports.

President Trump “will visit North Dakota on June 27 to campaign with GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer, a trip that could go a long way toward extinguishing tensions between the White House and the Senate hopeful,” Politico reports.

“Trump’s planned trip to Fargo, which the candidate announced on Friday on Twitter, came after Cramer took the unusual step of publicly attacking the administration for its seemingly warm treatment of his Democratic opponent, Sen. Heidi Heitkamp.”

President Trump “is aggressively campaigning for Republican Senate candidates around the country and belittling their Democratic ­rivals, with one notable exception — North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND),” the Washington Post reports.

“Trump’s affinity for Heitkamp, who got a shout-out and a handshake at a recent White House bill signing, has frustrated top Republicans who see winning her Democratic seat as crucial to holding onto their fragile 51-to-49 majority. No one has felt it more acutely than GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer, whom Trump personally recruited to run against Heitkamp.”

“Upset, Cramer contacted White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly to appeal for political help and traded warning shots with Trump’s legislative affairs director, Marc Short.”

Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) “will be going into the congressional midterm elections knowing that she’s received support for at least one piece of legislation by the unlikeliest of groups: the Koch political network,” CNBC reports.

“Americans for Prosperity, an arm of the influential network supported by conservative billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, is unleashing a digital advertising campaign on Friday thanking Heitkamp for cosponsoring the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protect Act, a bill that rolls back Dodd Frank regulations mainly on community banks, or those with less than $100 billion in assets.”

“When a small group of alarmed White House aides caught wind that Sen. Heidi Heitkamp — one of the most endangered Democrats up for reelection in 2018 — would be attending President Trump’s bill signing last week, they raced to stop it,” Politico reports.

“As the election year kicks into high gear, Republicans have grown increasingly frustrated with Trump’s ongoing flirtation with the freshman senator. At a time when many in the GOP fear that the president’s unpredictable style will undercut their best-laid midterm plans, the relationship has given Heitkamp — who is seeking reelection in a state where Trump won nearly two-thirds of the vote — fodder to portray herself as a presidential ally.”

“Republicans worried about holding on to their Senate majority are trying to convince three lawmakers to reconsider their decisions and run for the upper chamber,” The Hill reports.

“Reps. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Ann Wagner (R-MO) are being encouraged to launch Senate bids after initially passing on those races, while Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) is hearing calls to put off his retirement and run for reelection.”

“The last-minute maneuvering suggests the GOP primary fields may not be settled just eight months before the November midterm elections and highlights an increasing nervousness among Republicans that their Senate majority — once seen as nearly invincible — may be at risk.”

“Top Republicans are pleading with Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) to reconsider his decision to spurn the U.S. Senate race in North Dakota, fearing the party is on track to blow a prime pickup opportunity,” the Washington Examiner reports.

“White House officials and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are making another run at Cramer after internal opposition research on state Sen. Tom Campbell, the leading Republican to run in his place, turned up troubling information they worry could be a treasure trove for Democratic Sen. Heidi Heitkamp.”

About Political Wire

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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